


You've Married an Icarus

by tteotl1718



Series: Requests and Shorts [4]
Category: Hamilton - Miranda, Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Cheating, I Can't Believe I Wrote This, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Implied/Referenced Cheating, Keith (Voltron) is Eliza, Lance (Voltron) is Angelica, M/M, Marriage, Post-Reynolds Pamphlet, Shiro (Voltron) is Hamilton, Song Lyrics, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-22
Updated: 2017-09-22
Packaged: 2019-01-04 03:50:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12160965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tteotl1718/pseuds/tteotl1718
Summary: Shiro could still hear the words taunting at him, following him from the city towards his home.Takashi Shirogane had a torrid affair.He published it.What a man!He can never be president now.Those were the blows he had been expecting; Shiro was not so foolish as to hope that he would be immune to their scrutiny. It was not until he heard a whisper from some random person right outside of the town that Shiro had felt as if the world had been torn right out from under him.His poor husband.





	You've Married an Icarus

**Author's Note:**

> Oh my god, I played around with this so many different times! I was listening to the Hamilton Mixtape and I became _obsessed_ with Dessa's version of Congratulations and I'm in a Voltron Mood, and this... yeah. This happened.  
>  On that note, however, this was just a little drabble I wrote because I just needed to get it out of my system. It is not intended to be something like, groundbreaking. Something to just get my creativity and inspiration back on track, you know?  
> Either way, enjoy!

Shiro could still hear the words taunting at him, following him from the city towards his home.

_Takashi Shirogane had a torrid affair._

_He published it._

_What a man!_

_He can never be president now_ _._

_Those were the blows he had been expecting; Shiro was not so foolish as to hope that he would be immune to their scrutiny. It was not until he heard a whisper from some random person right outside of the town that Shiro had felt as if the world had been torn right out from under him._

_His poor husband_ _._

He opened the door to their home and instantly, Shiro smelled smoke. That was normal, he figured. Around this time, Keith would be in the lower greeting room. The servants would be starting a fire and Keith would be reading a book. Sometimes, when Shiro worked late, he would come home to find Keith curled up on that armchair in his night clothes and he would smile, brush his dark hair back and carry him to their bedroom.

He turned into the waiting room and he froze at what he saw. Keith was in his night clothes, but he was standing close to the fire, holding… something. From this angle, Shiro could not see what it was.

“Keith?” Shiro whispered, entering the room.

Keith didn’t answer him at first, but Shiro instantly knew that something was wrong. A cold shiver went down his back.

“Do you know what Lance said when we saw your first letter arrive to me? All those years ago?” Keith whispered, staring down at whatever it was that he was holding in his hands.

Shiro blinked in confusion. What did Keith’s adoptive brother have to do with this? “I don’t know what you mean, Keith.” He murmured, staring at the fire.

Keith’s shoulders hitched a little and when he spoke his voice was a tighter. “He said to be careful.” Keith laughed and he rubbed at one of his eyes and Shiro felt his heart stop. His eyes darted around, panicked, and he froze when his eyes landed on the side table next to Keith’s favorite armchair. A copy of Observations on Certain Documents stared back at him.  

“I had no idea what he was talking about.” Keith continued, voice growing colder, shaking. His shoulders were visibly trembling now. “Allura explained that basically the two of them thought you would do whatever it took to survive. What with you being the Champion to the General.”

Keith laughed and that sound would have once been enough to make Shiro’s knees weak. But now, Shiro tensed hearing it. Keith’s laughter just then was hard and cold and without humor. “I never believed them. And yet here we are. You did what you needed to survive, didn’t you? Even at the cost of our own lives.” Keith finally chucked whatever he was holding into the fire and sparks flew, tongues of flames curling around it and reaching for Keith after a moment before retreating back into the fireplace.

Alarmed, Shiro took a few steps further into the study. “Keith?” He said.

Keith turned to look at him over his shoulder, the tears in his eyes glowing from the firelight. “From every single letter you sent…. When I read them I knew you were the one. I knew you would be mine. You said you were.” He whispered. He turned back to the fireplace. “And yet…” His fists clenched at his side.

Shiro tried to speak. “Keith, listen to me. What happened between me and that woman… it was nothing. It meant nothing-“

“Those letters meant everything to me, Shiro. They were the only comfort I had when you left me. They were the only sign that you would return. It was killing me when you were away and those letters… they filled that space. They flooded it, tuned out every other thought.” He whispered. “But then… I reread them. I scanned them. I double checked every single line, every single word. For something. Some kind of sign.”

Keith turned to him and his hand gestured to the pamphlet and Shiro knew he was about to have it. One of the things that he absolutely loved about Keith was his fire, his warmth. The strength that came with it and how well they matched. But right now, Shiro knew the fire in Keith was no less gentle than the fire raging behind him. “But you did this.” Keith hissed. “You published her letters. You told the whole world! You told everyone how you… how you brought her into our bed, Shiro.” He whispered. A tear escaped his eye and Shiro stepped forwards, hand raised.

He so desperately wanted to wipe it away.

Keith’s sorrow was overshadowed by his mounting anger. “In the act of clearing your name with that declaration, you’ve ruined our lives!” Keith accused and Shiro took the blow without protest. “Do you know what Allura said to that when she heard what you had done?” Keith said, tears flowing freely now. He made no attempt to wipe them away. “When she heard how you betrayed our father?”

Shiro winced. “Keith, listen to me. Please. I’ve hurt you, I know that. But I had to do something. Lotor and Sendak learned of what I had done, and I needed to preserve what was left of this political legacy I’m building-“

“You’re so obsessed with your legacy! That’s one thing I noticed in those letters, Shiro!” Keith exploded. “You’re too obsessed with what you’ll leave behind, what is going to happen, what people will think when they look back on Takashi Shirogane! You’re paranoid on how they perceive you! It’s all about how they see you, you, you!” He sobbed, burying his face into his hands.

Shiro went forwards to try and embrace him as Keith stifled his sobbing.

Keith’s arms shoved him away when Shiro got too close. Furious tears fell from those steel purple eyes, the living room contrasted sharply in the evening light from the intense fire burning behind him. Shiro could only watch in horror as he saw the fuel of those fires; a simple mahagony box with a golden latch, the wood scorched. It gaped out at him, like it was an open wound, and the letters inside were the blood spilling out. 

Shiro tensed, dread filling him. “Keith, what are you doing!?” He cried rushing to the fire to stare as his words were swallowed up by the flames. How could Keith just burn those memories?

Keith shook his head, still furious and his cheeks flushed with color from his despair. “They don’t mean anything, Takashi! They apparently never did!”

“But what about what we said for the world-“

“The world has no right to my heart!” Keith yelled, blinking and glaring at his husband, despite the tears that were nearly blinding him by now. “The world has no place in our bed! None of them get to know what I said, none of them have any right to know what I said! None of them deserve to know what happened between us, Shiro! Because, apparently, you didn’t care either way! Let them wonder how Keith Shirogane reacted when you broke his heart!”

Shiro felt his stomach grow cold as Keith strode across the room to Shiro, jabbing a finger into his chest. “You have forfeited all rights to my heart! You’ve given up the place in our bed – the bed that you shared with her!”

Shiro’s eyes widened, feeling desperation seizing him. “Keith, wait, please-“

Keith spoke on, those tears falling despite   the furious gaze in eyes. “You will sleep in your office, not with me!”

“But what about everything that we have built! Everything that happened!” Shiro could feel his own tears beginning to sting eyes as he watched his husband. He saw Keith’s reddened cheeks as he tried to hide in a flute of champagne. He saw Keith smiling on their wedding day He saw Keith running to him when Shiro returned home from war. “Keith, please don’t do-“

Keith squeezed his eyes shut, his hands as fists at his side. “Shut up!  _I hope that you burn_!” Keith shoved past him, his sobs shaking him and slicing through Shiro like knife after knife as Keith fled to their chambers up the stairs. Shiro listened to the unsteady sound of Keith’s feet on the floors, and then flinched at the sound of Keith slamming the door behind him. It sounded more horrifying than any gun shot that Shiro had heard in the War. 

Turning back to the flames, the heat somehow felt accusatory instead of inviting. He looked at the smoldering remains of the letters he had written for Keith. He could practically feel the promises he had written onto each one glaring at him, taunting him, laughing at him. He grabbed the wall, trying to support himself but a sob escaped his lips as he slid to the floor.

Keith was wrong.  

He was already burning.

~*~

Shiro had his face buried into his hands at his desk. He slept in the study that night previous, as he had ever since Keith had burned the letters. He could not sleep anyways. His dreams were haunted with the image of Keith’s sorrow, Keith being the one that was burning and his enemies surrounding him as Keith just burned.

He remembered Keith’s words for the hundredth time, screaming at him. His shrill voice could still be heard, even if the walls around Shiro had not ever heard Keith’s voice in those horrible moments. Shiro pressed his hands deeper into his eyes, seeing nonsensical shapes spring to life, but all he could see was that utter  _betrayal_  in Keith’s eyes, practically smoldering in the firelight as Keith restrained his well deserved rage still.

Despite everything he had said to Shiro, everything that he had hurled at him, Keith never once raised a hand to him. Keith did not tell him to leave.

Shiro clung to that pathetic hope. It was what kept him from leaving the house altogether.

Shiro took a steady breath, trying to calm himself. He could feel that now familiar sense of self loathing boiling within him. He couldn’t focus on the documents in front of him, eyes flickering to the drawer on his desk, the blank sheets of paper calling out to him. He was always better with his quill than with anything. Perhaps… perhaps they could begin again the same way that they had started. A letter.

He went to open the drawer but his hand faltered when he heard a gentle knock at his door. His heart leapt into his throat. What if it was Keith?

"Come in." he called, fingers hovering over the knob to the drawer.  

When the door opened, Shiro felt his heart instantly skip a beat when he saw Lance Altea walk through the door. Lance, the eldest of the Altea Children, Keith’s older brother and a man that Shiro had once seen a future with before he had fallen in love with Keith. 

He knew Lance well, however; the two of them had grown closer after Shiro and Keith had been wed. Lance, having been sent farther away on a marriage of his own, wrote and visited often to the happy couple, helping them both grow and watching over this little brother. Lance was dressed in beautiful blue, as always, with hints of grey and some black thrown in, but he looked positively regal. As becoming of a son of Altea.

Shiro pushed a little from his chair, the paper in the drawer forgotten. He felt a relieved smile tug at his lips. " Lance." he breathed in greeting. He stood. "It is good to see you; to see a friendly face."

Lance didn't respond to his greeting, locking Shiro into a level gaze. "Shiro." he said, voice collected and calm. He closed the door and instantly his face transformed from neutral and becoming to a furious thundercloud about to break. "I heard congratulations are in order."

For the hundredth time that week, Shiro felt his stomach drop to his feet.  His smile instantly grew nervous, knowing exactly what this was about. He hoped he could divert the talk; he was still emotionally drained and worn from Keith’s justified outburst. "I... er, well, the bills have finally passed and-“

"You have invented a new kind of stupid, Takashi.  _Especially_  if you believe that is what I meant." Lance said, his voice cold. He held up a small set of papers and Shiro felt his stomach twist at the sight of _Observations_ once more glaring back at him, mocking him. With his smile faded, Shiro knew that he instantly had every guilt, every blame and every hate written on his face. Burned there, like the inked letters that Keith had destroyed in the fireplace. 

Lance touched his temple as he closed those lovely blue eyes, clearly trying to retain his temper as he continued. "This is a brand new kind of stupid." The exaggerated shock in his voice was clear as he spoke, making Shiro feel shame once more. "A special 'damage you can never undo' kind of stupid." Lance continued conversationally. He smiled, the upward turn of his lips cold and angry, gesturing with his hand. "An 'open all the cages in the  _zoo_ ' kind of stupid." he said, like that was a joke. 

Lance dropped his hands, both gesturing right to Shiro. "Truly you didn't think this through. That kind of stupid!" Lance’s voice rose a little as he threw the papers of the pamphlet at Shiro, Shiro wincing a little as the pages fluttered in his face.

The man held up a hand uselessly, like he could somehow block the truth spilling from Lance’s lips. "Lance, I can-"

"Let us review the contents of that little amount of observations, shall we?" Lance said, turning to the side as he began to remove his gloves. He looked frighteningly calm, back straight and chin perfectly leveled, eyes almost disinterested as he stared out the window. He held up one finger, the others clenched tightly in an imperfect fist. "You took a rumor that few people knew of." he held up two fingers. "Refuted it by sharing an affair," he turned sharply, eyes dangerous again as he held up a third finger, " of which no one accused has you!"

Shiro looked away, closing his eyes tightly. He could not stand this. Keith's anger had been emotional, a fire that blazed and burned, a scorching reminder on Shiro’s psyche of what he had done but this? Lance’s anger was cold and calculated. The kind that knew how to break Shiro. That was part of why Shiro loved Lance desperately. Shiro jumped, eyes snapping open when Lance grabbed his shoulders, and he was startled to see the despair there. "I begged you to take a break! To recharge, to escape for one summer!" 

Shiro could feel the shame in his heart. He had had so many opportunities to have changed everything. To have put Keith first. To avoid the path that he had trudged down. However, he could still feel himself struggling to regain some footing against the thunderstorm that was Lance’s wrath. "I had to get my work done-"

"You refused to!" Lance cut him off, letting go with disdain. “You were so obsessed with your work, with your legacy! You couldn’t tear yourself away from your quill for one summer to spend it with your family! With your husband, a man who we thought for the longest time would be married last out of all of the Altea Children!” Lance reminded, finger pointed accusingly at Shiro.

Shiro flinched, still grasping. He had to try, he had to make Lance _see_. "The timing was wrong, I had to get something through or I would have lost my job and-"

"You're so scared of your enemies! So frightened, cowering in the face of what they might do!" Lance yelled, his cheeks flushing from the effort he had clearly in finding a balance of holding himself back and of letting Shiro really have it. Shiro could see Lance’s fists clenched at his side, trembling. Like Keith’s had been that night when Keith had burned the letters.

Lance jabbed a finger into his chest. “You're the only person that you ever seem to lose to, Shiro! All of your shortcomings are because of your own fears and doubts." The volume was dropping, the anger slowly being wrapped up but the words stung nonetheless. 

Lance stepped back and crossed his arms. "Do you know why Lotor can do what he wants?" he growled, voice retaining a little bit of strength.

Shiro huffed, glaring at nothing. "Because he's a silver-tongued bastard-"

"He doesn't dignify schoolyard taunts with a response." Lance spoke sharply, raising a hand to silence Shiro. “He doesn’t behave like a petulant child, ready to snap at someone when their

The words cut deep into Shiro; he visibly winced and turned away again, one hand resting on the cold wood of his desk. Perhaps he could just let Lance say his bit before he tried to plead his fragile case. 

"Congratulations for all of this, you know? You should be satisfied; after all, you've redefined the legacy you so desperately wanted. You've truly stood out among the Founders. Congratulations." Lance hissed with pure venom. 

Shiro tensed at the mention of everything he had worked for and suddenly his own heart had a bolt of confidence. "It was an act of political sacrifice!" he burst out. Lance’s own eyes widened and his anger vanished and transformed into something like anguish. Shiro continued. "I never wanted to hurt Keith, you have to know that. But with people knowing what they knew, with Lotor knowing what he knew, I had to set the record straight! I've given up so much, I've sacrificed.... I've lost everything, Lance! What would you know of sacrifice?" He asked bitterly. Lance had given up nothing, compared to Shiro. Shiro, the orphaned bastard.

Lance stared at him, a sadness welling in his blue eyes before he looked down at his hands, at the ring on his finger from his spouse. "Sacrifice?" Lance whispered, clenching his hand. 

"I suffered through years in a loveless marriage so far away from my family. That was torturous enough to be away from my sister, away from my brother. It killed me to be so far away from you. Your letters were the only thing I lived for." Lance murmured, head down, strong chin trembling in the wake of his despair. He looked up at Shiro, eyes shimmering. 

The smaller man took a shuddering breath and continued. "I look at you and... and I think what have I done with my life? What have we done with our lives, Shiro? What did any of this get us?" Lance asked, gesturing around Shiro’s study. To the books on philosophy, to the bills Shiro kept, to the thousands of documents that he had written.

Shiro wondered that for a moment himself. He remembered the night that he and Lance had met; the same night that Shiro and Keith had met for the first time. He remembered the blush on Keith’s cheek as he thanked Shiro for his service, the hidden pain in Lance’s eyes as he left the two of them to get to know each other.

Lance looked down again and took a step forwards, closing his eyes. Shiro’s hands twitched, wanting to come up and hold Lance close. Lance took a deep breath. "That's... that's nothing though. Too many tears and too many years have passed and they cannot be brushed aside. The past has come and gone, and nothing can be changed, no matter how much we may want it to." he said softly, Shiro having to push away from his desk slightly to hear him. 

Silence stretched between them, and despite how close they were, the distance between them made Shiro ache. He sighed. "How long will you be staying?" he whispered, feeling his moment with Lance slipping away from him. Another thing that Shiro couldn't grasp at, another thing he could not save. 

Lance looked at his wedding band on his finger. "I'm coming home. I've found a place very close in the city. I've.. I've broken things off in my marriage. I'm here to stay, to help." Lance murmured, removing the ring and inspecting it.

Shiro felt hope flicker in his chest. Despite everything, he knew that he could make it through this with Lance by his side, with Lance there and guiding him. He took Lance’s hand with his metal one. Lance had never flinched from the cold touch, and Shiro felt hope when Lance looked up at him. "Lance..." he murmured softly, giving a faint smile. 

Lance’s eyes widened and he yanked himself back, his hand slipping from Shiro’s own. "I'm not here to help _you_."

Lance looked absolutely affronted at the notion of him being there for  _Shiro_ , the man who had hurt his brother. The both of them knew the story of Keith Altea. An orphan taken in by the prestigious Altea family, the hotheaded young man whom no suitors could sway. Keith had taken one look at Shiro, one fond look and had decided. That trust, that willingness to give himself away was a rare thing that he barely gave to Keith’s own adoptive father, Alfor. Shiro had been given that precious trust. Shiro had sworn to be true.

Shiro bit his lip. “Lance, I don’t know if I can do this alone. I need someone here with me, someone who will help me placate Keith. I love him, I do, but-“

Lance interrupted once more, voice shaking. “I know my brother like I know my own mind.” He whispered. His fists tightened around his gloves, the sound of the fabric being squeezed filling the space between them. Lance was livid now, his anger slowly coming back like the rolling of a wave. “You won’t  _ever_  find someone as trusting or as kind as he, Shirogane.”

Shiro took a hesitant step back as Lance looked at him, taking a half step forwards into the bigger man’s space, blue eyes brimming with tears. “And so long ago, he grabbed my arm and said ‘this one’s mine.’” He said. Lance’s eyes softened as he looked at Shiro, reliving that moment in the winter so many years ago.

Lance’s eyes brightened as he regarded Shiro again. “So I stood by and let fate take you to him. Do you know why?” he challenged, the tears falling now from those eyes Shiro had loved. Shiro felt his blood run cold. An image of Keith’s smiling face appeared, innocent and young and filled with unconditional love.

He remembered Keith’s tears as he destroyed the letters that Shiro had written.

“I love my brother more than anything in my life! He’s had so little happiness; I will choose his joy over mine,  _everytime_!” Lance declared. His face was reddening from his tears and Shiro felt his own cheeks grow warm and wet. Lance grabbed Shiro’s shoulders, and Shiro winced a Lance’s strong, angry grip. “Put what we had aside! I’m staying by him this time, I cannot stand by someone who does not know when they have exactly what they need – the best in their lives!” Lance’s hands were gripping Shiro’s shirt now, and Shiro could feel Lance’s fingers trembling.

“And Keith is the  _best_  thing in our life!” Lance suddenly yelled, shoving Shiro’s chest and Shiro had to catch himself on his desk but beyond his shock, he could not rise to Lance’s grief. Lance’s eyes were harsh and accusing as they shimmered through his tears. “So, Takashi Shirogane,  _never_  lose sight of the fact that you have been blessed with the best husband!” He cried passionately. Lance threw his hands in the air. “Congratulations!”

Lance Altea turned on one heel and stormed to the door, yanking his gloves on as Shiro remained on his desk, not moving from where he had been shoved. “For the rest of your life, every  _sacrifice_  you make is for my brother.” He snarled out, yanking the door open after his gloves had been returned to his hands. Lance turned and looked at Shiro with such coldness that his warm ocean eyes looked like a northern sea. “Give him the best life.” He ordered, pointing right at Shiro.

He turned back around to leave, hand on the door. His voice was like pure venom when he called over his shoulder one last time. “Congratulations.”

Shiro winced as Lance slammed the door behind him, effectively cutting them apart and anything they had left. He fell to his knees, and Shiro could not stop the flow of the tears as he let out his grief. He grieved for the loss of his dearest friend, a person he had once been in love with. He grieved over his shattered life, how he had come to destroy it.

Takashi Shirogane grieved over the fact that for the rest of his life, he could never deserve Keith again.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Leave a comment and some kudos please! Let me know what you think!
> 
> Also, please feel free to follow my twitter as my tumblr will no longer be active. My twitter @ tteotl1718 has some interesting things there for you guys: you can see previews of my writing, ask me questions about my WIPs, and see what is coming in the 2019 year for you guys! 
> 
> Thanks again!


End file.
